On the contrary, even more reason that it was the right move to strike while the iron was red hot. I said it repeatedly in the thread at the time, but his stock will never be that high again (even if he goes on to run 1:40).
Racing HS kids makes no sense so take the life changing money.
Arop also ran most of his race in Lane 2/3 and still qualified.
Cooper is a massive talent and hope for the future, but the reality is his 1:42 is (so far) a career outlier and anyone expecting him to easily beat grown men in the deepest event on the track—because of one race in Eugene—is extremely delusional
He’s secured a massive Nike bag off that one race and will be fine. Let’s see if he makes the team again in 2027
This post was edited 46 seconds after it was posted.
On the contrary, even more reason that it was the right move to strike while the iron was red hot. I said it repeatedly in the thread at the time, but his stock will never be that high again (even if he goes on to run 1:40).
Racing HS kids makes no sense so take the life changing money.
Yeah, definitely not a mistake. He had never lost a HS 800m—the only point of sticking around would be to compete over the 400m/mile and try to be national class at both events. For what? Posterity? Glad he chose the money.
Lol some of you guys are being a bit reactionary & critical of him. I’m confident he’ll be fine. Texas hs starts racing in like March, and I’m sure his coach never factored in world champs. He’s literally used to being deep into xc season by now. He’s been racing more than a lot of these people, for a lot longer.
Would I be a lot more confident in Hoey making the final had he been here? I mean yeah of course, but if I have to trade that for coop being here and gaining experience at such a young age, that is so worth it long term.
Arop also ran most of his race in Lane 2/3 and still qualified.
Cooper is a massive talent and hope for the future, but the reality is his 1:42 is (so far) a career outlier and anyone expecting him to easily beat grown men in the deepest event on the track—because of one race in Eugene—is extremely delusional
He’s secured a massive Nike bag off that one race and will be fine. Let’s see if he makes the team again in 2027
Agreed. I wasn’t expecting him to make the final, but I thought he could make the semi. No shame that he didn’t. It’s been a long year for him, and it’s incredibly difficult for a teenager to make his pro debut half way around the world at global championship.
Although the race didn’t go as well as he would’ve liked, it was a fantastic learning experience for him.
On the contrary, even more reason that it was the right move to strike while the iron was red hot. I said it repeatedly in the thread at the time, but his stock will never be that high again (even if he goes on to run 1:40).
Racing HS kids makes no sense so take the life changing money.
How can you say it's life changing money when you have no clue what the contract details are?
You guys are all so overly dramatic. A 16 year old runs a below average race at the end of a long season. He's run 1:42. No one accidentally does that and talent doesn't just go away. This was a great learning experience for him. He'll mature and learn from this and come back even stronger.
Texas hs starts racing in like March, and I’m sure his coach never factored in world champs. He’s literally used to being deep into xc season by now.
This is the perfect take.
Work backward.
Imagine if you knew that he would make the team for the World Championships and you could set up a program for all the months leading up to it. Would it look anything like the program that he has had since the beginning of 2025? Of course not.
His coaches set up a great program to get him to the USA Trials, and look at the amazing result he had. After that... it's just gravy and trying to hang on.
Its weird that he couldnt run within 5 seconds of his previous race. Thats a very big non performance. he was in a heat that looks like it was much slower then the rest of them as well. Will be interesting to see what next season brings. Obviously hes very young, but giving up all that eligibility, could end up being a pretty premature decision.
On the contrary, even more reason that it was the right move to strike while the iron was red hot. I said it repeatedly in the thread at the time, but his stock will never be that high again (even if he goes on to run 1:40).
Racing HS kids makes no sense so take the life changing money.
How can you say it's life changing money when you have no clue what the contract details are?